TOUGH LAW BAN SMOKING IN VICTORIA RESTAURANTS, PUBS AND CASINOS

VICTORIA (CP) - Smokers will no longer be able to puff in restaurants, pubs,
casinos, bingo halls, nightclubs and other public venues starting Friday
after one of the country’s toughest anti-smoking bylaws goes into effect.

Richard Stanwick, regional medical health officer, hails the 100-per-cent
indoor smoking ban as a public health necessity that will have few lingering
side-effects.

It will leave only private homes and automobiles as places for smokers to
indulge their habit.

But many in the hospitality industry say money and jobs will go up in smoke,
enforcement will be unwieldy, and tourists will be unhappy.

"A lot of people are really upset," said Gordon Card, owner of the Monkey
Tree pub.

"They’re feeling a lot of despair and a sense of Big Brother looking over
their shoulders."

Card said public health initiatives should be directed at youth rather than
people who have been smoking for years or even decades.

Card also criticized the way the bylaw is being implemented. He said people
are unaware of the ban and said he gets calls from fellow bar owners asking
him what to do.

"The only thing I can tell them is to do what they think is right."

Stanwick said the bylaw has been a virtual certainty for more than two
years. He said the district was ready to implement it in 1998, but backed
off.

"This isn’t a surprise party," he said.

Possible fines range from $100 to $500 for a first offence. That can rise to
as much as $2,000 for later offences.

The onus is not on the owners to enforce the bylaw, provided they have
no-smoking signs and get rid of ashtrays.

However, Don Rittaler, of the Sooke River Hotel, plans to ignore the bylaw
and launch a legal challenge.

Rittaler said he has spent a lot of money improving ventilation in the pub
and he believes that’s all that’s needed.